Overview and Application:
The University Pre-Health Advisory Committee (UPHAC) is how Eastern Kentucky University formally presents a student as a candidate to a medical, dental or optometry school. Interested students must submit an application for a 2023 interview with the committee by December 18th, 2022. Applications should be scanned and emailed to Sabrina Moore at sabrina.moore@eku.edu. If invited, the student will meet for a 30-minute interview with several members of the UPHAC during the spring semester (February through May). The committee will then provide a confidential letter of evaluation in support of the student’s application to a professional program.
Students Must Satisfy These Conditions to Qualify for an Interview:
- Have junior status or above
- Have at least 16 hours of upper level chemistry and biology courses
- Have 50 or more hours of shadowing and/or clinical experience
- Note: Though 50 hours is the minimum required in order to apply to interview, students should have at least 100 hours before their scheduled interview. Priority is given to students who meet the suggested shadowing hours at the time of application.
Medical school applicants must have an overall GPA of 3.40 or above and a BCPM (Biology-Chemistry-Physics-Math) GPA of 3.20 and above.
Required Materials and Preparation:
Students who are invited to interview with the UPHAC must provide 1) a personal statement; 2) resume that outlines all professional, extracurricular, shadowing and volunteer experience; 3) a copy of all unofficial transcripts; 4) two individual letters of recommendation (optional); and 5) a photo for identification purposes. Letters of recommendation from course instructors and/or research supervisors are preferred. These materials must be sent to Sabrina Moore, pre-professional health advisor, at sabrina.moore@eku.edu, at least TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the scheduled interview.
Process and Letter Submission:
After each interview, the participating committee members will discuss the student’s interview and provide an evaluation of the candidate. Based on the committee’s evaluation, the chair of the UPHAC, with input from other members, then writes a confidential evaluation letter (“committee letter”) that will eventually be routed directly into the student’s respective online professional school application. When students are completing their applications to professional schools, they must list the chair as the contact for their committee letters. Students should review the specific instructions for their respective application system to learn more: AACOMAS, AMCAS, AADSAS and OptomCAS.
Follow-Up:
Students are encouraged to follow up with committee members who were present for their interview for feedback on their interview, personal statement and overall qualifications. (Note that the pre-professional health advisor is available to provide specific feedback on personal statements prior to the student’s two week deadline and/or after the student’s interview.)
Current UPHAC Members:
Current members of the UPHAC are listed below. Note: A student CANNOT use both a letter of evaluation from the committee and a letter from an individual committee member in their application.
Lindsay Cormier, UPHAC Chair, Biology, College of STEM
Sabrina Moore, Pre-Professional Health Advisor, College of STEM
Margaret Ndinguri, Chemistry, College of STEM
Tanea Reed, Chemistry, College of STEM
Bill Staddon, Biology, College of STEM
Michelyn Bhandari, Public Health, College of Health Sciences
Ben Freed, Anthropology, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
Myra Beth Bundy, Psychology, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
Randi Polk, Language, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
Charlotte Rich, English, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
Bill Young, Emergency Medical Care, College of Justice, Safety & Military Science